Aftermath
by FabSVUFan
Summary: Post Screwed. Everyone is trying to deal, until something happens to someone while working on their most recent case. Possible EO! Please R&R Chapter 12 up!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi! This is my first fanfic. It's going to be a chapter story, so please review. No flames, I beg, but I would love input!**

**By the way, this is post the episode screwed. Possible E/O, depends.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, but thanks for reminding me. You ruined my day.**

Olivia and Elliot reached the crime scene. It was right off the shores of the Hudson River near one of the boating docks. They got out of the car and headed towards the police officers. Ducking under the yellow tape, Olivia reached a uniform. She flashed her badge.

"Hi. Detectives Benson and Stabler," she said pointing to her partner. "What we got?"

"We got a call from dispatcher. Fisherman found him while pulling his boat in this morning. This is what we got so far. He's a 14 year old boy. Had his backpack with him. ID says Roger Cleine at WP High School."

The two detectives walked over to the crime scene while putting on white gloves. Warner was just closing her coroner's kit. As they saw the body, Elliot's eyebrows furrowed. The boy had brown hair. He was laid in a position on his back with his arms crossed across his chest. His eyes were closed, and they couldn't see any blood. Olivia looked over at Elliot.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothin'. I just don't know if I'm up to dealing with a kid case right now." Olivia's eyes widened a little bit, and they both turned back to the boy. Olivia walked over and knelt down next to him, looking at Warner.

"What do you know?"

Warner looked over at her. "Looks like he died from strangulation." She put her hands where the boy's neck was. "His windpipe was crushed, so I would say the perp used some kind of pipe or small object and pinned him to the ground. I also found fluids. I'll run a rape kit. I would say he was killed at maybe three or four this morning," Warner paused.

"Sad way to die," she continued. "The perp was looking straight into his eyes when he died. I would say it was personal."

Olivia kept her eyes on the boy. She was not in the mood for this kind of case. She was still waiting for her final evaluation from IAB, and that morning, Cragen had dropped the news on the squad that he was also waiting on information of whether he would lose his command, but he wouldn't give details. Elliot had hardly said a word since Kathleen's arrest. Fin had taken the week off, while John was trying to get more information off of the new detective, Chester Lake. John had a feeling that this new guy might take over his job.

Everybody either had a crisis or an overtired persona. This case of a poor 14 year old boy was the last thing she needed. Suddenly, Warner pulled her out of her thoughts.

"What's going on with Elliot?" Olivia turned her head around to see Elliot in the exact same position, staring at the boy. Olivia sighed and turned back to Warner.

"It's been a long couple of weeks," Olivia said. Warner looked back down at the body and nodded. She closed her kit and stood up. Olivia stood up too.

Warner smiled. "I'll get these to the lab as quickly as I can. I'll call you when the results come in."

"Thanks." Olivia replied, while taking off the latex gloves. She turned back and walked towards Elliot. As she approached Elliot snapped out of it, and they both walked towards the car.

"What did Warner get?" he sighed.

"Poor kid was strangled, trachea crushed. She found fluids. She said she would call us when she got results."

Elliot stared straight ahead. He felt so tired and confused. Olivia looked over at him as she got to the passenger door of the car.

"El," she said over the roof of the car. "Are you gonna be okay with this case?"

Elliot pinned her with a stare. "I know how to do my job."

Olivia didn't want to argue. "Okay. Sorry, just making sure." They both grunted and frowned as they entered the car.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I made this chapter a little longer. Thank you soooo much for the reviews, they make my day.**

**Disclaimer: I wish they were mine.**

Back at the precinct, Olivia and Elliot walked in and hung their coats over their chairs. Cragen came out of his office and issued them all over to the board to brief them on the case.

"Munch, what do you have on the kid?" he asked without an ounce of kindness.

Munch walked over to the board and taped his picture up. "Liv called me from the car. I did some background. His name is Roger Cleine, 14. He lives in Queens with his parents, Eleanor Cleine and Mickey Cleine. The two have been separated for about three months. Roger was living with his mother."

Munch then taped two more pictures to the board of the mother and father. He continued.

"Roger had no siblings. He went to WP High School in 9th grade. The mother filed a missing persons report about two days ago. Nobody has informed her yet."

Cragen nodded. "Okay, good. Liv, Elliot, get anything at the crime scene?"

Olivia nodded. "The boy died from strangulation. The marks on his neck say it was something hard that pinned him to the ground. Whatever it was, it crushed his trachea. M.E. found fluids. She said she would put it on urgent and call us as soon as the results come in." Olivia glanced at Elliot, who seemed to not be paying attention. She turned back to Cragen.

Cragen crossed his arms and looked at the board one more time before he spoke. "Okay. Munch, I want you to take Detective Lake to inform the parents. Elliot, Olivia, I want you to stay here for now and wait for Melinda's call. Tomorrow, you two can visit the school for questioning. I want this case closed as soon as possible, got it people?" The rest of the squad nodded.

He turned and walked towards his office. Before he entered, he called out, "Olivia, can I see you in my office?" Olivia got out of her chair, which she just sat in, and headed into the office.

Once in there, Cragen told her to close the door from behind his desk. They both sat down. The Captain looked at her with uncertainty. "Did you get any feedback from Internal Affairs yet?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "They said that I would get contacted through mail if need be. Porter said he would try to find out as soon as possible." Cragen nodded. He knew that this was a big deal to her, her job was her life, but she hadn't said anything since the interview.

Olivia suddenly spoke again. "What about you?"

Cragen leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I'm not sure." He thought he would say something to follow it, but he didn't have the words. He looked back at Olivia. She had sympathy in her eyes, and it was probably one of the last things he needed from his detectives right now. He stood up, and with that so did she.

Before she opened the door, he said in a serious tone, "Olivia, I need you to be honest," she looked back at him. "Do you think Elliot can handle this case? It's your call, but if he can't, I don't need any problems right now."

Olivia looked through the window of his office and saw Elliot sitting at his desk talking on the phone, the stern look on his face evident. She sighed and looked back at her captain. "He'll be fine. If there's a problem, I'll take care of it."

Cragen nodded and Olivia opened the door and left. She walked back to her desk and sat down right as Elliot got off the phone. He sighed, and got up to get his coat.

"Everything all right?" Olivia asked as he slipped his arm into the jacket. He looked over at her like it hadn't crossed his mind that she was there.

"I just talked to Kathy on the phone. I have to go. I'm not sure when I can get back. Will you be okay with the work?"

"Yeah, no problem," she said with a meek smile. He didn't even reply and walked out of the door. Olivia leaned forward in her desk and rubbed circles around her forehead.

* * *

Munch and Lake got out of the car. It was about 5:00 and the sun was giving off shadows of the house in front of them. The lawn was clean-cut and very green. There was a bike in the driveway. They walked up the porch. Before Munch knocked on the door, he looked to his right and saw that the family had set up a table with candles all around it. In the middle was a framed picture of the boy, Roger. Under the frame was a banner that hung from the table. It read:

"_To our dear sweet gift from God, please bring him home safe."_

Munch took a deep breath and knocked on the door again. Before the person answered, Munch turned to Lake.

"You've done house calls before, right?"

"Yeah, in Brooklyn." Suddenly the door opened and a woman, about late thirties stood in front of them. She looked tired, but she had a weary smile on her face. Lake showed her his badge.

"Hello, Mrs. Cleine?" he asked. She nodded. "I'm detective Lake and this is detective Munch, SVU. We are here about your son Roger."

She suddenly had a confused look on her face. "SVU? I'm sorry, you must be mistaken. Missing Person's has been handling this case."

Munch stepped forward. "I'm afraid that's why we're here, could we come in?"

She suddenly had a look of shock on her face and then anger. "No," she replied. "You can tell me here! Where is he?" She was turning hysterical. She looked pleadingly at Munch and then at Lake.

Lake looked at her with sad eyes. "Mrs. Cleine, we're very sorry to inform you -" Before he could finish she began screaming and crying.

"No! Where is he?" she suddenly lost feeling in her feet and Lake had to hold her up from falling. "Take me to him. Where's my son? Roger? Roger! God no, no, no . . ." She silently cried in Lake's shirt. He went and sat her down by the porch chair, where Munch kneeled down next to her. He handed her a tissue.

"Mrs. Cleine, I am so sorry, but I'm afraid that we need you to come identify the body, and then give your statement." She didn't look at him, she just nodded.

"Okay, I want to see him anyway." She could hardly speak, her hiccups were so bad.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews. I tried to make this chapter longer. Hehe! Enjoy! I'll update soon!**

**Disclaimer: If they were mine, I would own my own island. But sadly, they're not.**

Elliot pulled his car up to his old house. He took a deep breath before he got out and walked up the front porch. Before he rung the bell, Kathy answered. She looked at Elliot with uncertainty and moved so that he could come into the house.

Elliot stood by the stairs and rubbed his neck. He had hardly spoken to Kathy since the pregnancy news, and she had said nothing to him about Kathleen's situation.

"She is upstairs if you want to talk to her." She nodded her head up the stairs. Kathleen had been arrested only a couple days prier. The judge allowed her to be released by her own recognizance. She would have to reappear in about two weeks. Olivia had told him the other day that the most she would probably get would be probation, even though that was just said to make him feel better. He hadn't really been listening to her, anyway.

However, the problem for Kathleen wasn't really about jail time, it was that this would be put permanently on her record. If the educational board found out about it, she could be suspended or expelled from college, or kiss her chances of grad school goodbye.

"I'll go see how she's doing." Elliot walked up the stairs to her room and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Elliot opened the door to see his daughter reading in her bed. He smiled and sat next to her.

"What are you reading?"

"It's actually one of the mandatory literary books we have to read. It's called Brave New World." He paused and watched her for a minute.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I've got two weeks to study until court. Mom filled me in. I'm fine." Elliot was uncertain, but he wasn't going to question the fact that his daughter was calmer than he was about the situation.

"Kathleen, I'm sorry that this happened. Okay? It's just the trial happened, and people started digging." He looked Kathleen in the eye, and she hinted a small smile.

"Dad," she whispered and put her hand on his. "I am kind of scared, but I never expected a free pass." She looked down. "I don't think I want to talk about it anymore." Elliot kissed her on the forehead. He got up and headed for the door.

Before he got there, Kathleen said, "Mom told us last night after dinner about the pregnancy."

Elliot turned around and furrowed his eyebrows. Before he could say anything, Kathleen spoke again, "So, what are you going to do?"

Elliot was a little taken aback by the question. Olivia had asked the same one days earlier. When Olivia had asked him, he didn't understand how she could ask that. Was Elliot so misunderstood that nobody thought he could step up and do the right thing? Of course he would have to move home. There was no other reasonable and responsible option. So how could Olivia think that? But as his daughter asked it, he didn't know how to reply.

He didn't think it was possible, but apparently, Olivia knew how confused he was before he himself knew. Since the separation and divorce, his family was all he wanted back. He could've cared less about anything, but now that he was faced with the option of going back, he didn't know what to do. He wanted to come home, didn't he?

"Dad?" Elliot snapped out of the trance and looked at his daughter. "Dad, you don't have to freak out. I have to study anyway, I'll see you later." She smiled and waved him off.

He smiled back and closed the door behind him. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Kathy was standing in the kitchen staring at him.

"We need to talk," she said. Elliot nodded and walked over to her. As he leaned on the counter, Kathy turned her head and looked straight into his eyes.

"Elliot, I'm too tired to deal with this. I mean, Kathleen is being dragged in the mud because your job brought it back up. When are you coming home?"

"Listen, Kath, right now I just have a lot of things going on -"

"Elliot, I don't know what to do," she started to raise her voice. "I don't think you even want to come home anymore. I mean what, when your family is taken away you want them back, but now you 'don't know'?"

"Kath, I," he rubbed the back of his neck. "I just -"

"Shut up Elliot. This baby was a mistake, but I am willing to take care of it. I know you are too because that's the kind of person you are, but if you would rather be at your damn job, than there isn't much else I can ask, is there." She paused. "I just, I need someone here. If you can't Elliot, then I guess there is going to be someone else."

"Kathy, I don't know what to do. It was a mistake, but you can't ask me to drop everything. A lot of things have happened these past few weeks, and I just need time to re-evaluate some things."

"Elliot, just leave. Please, I can't do it right now." With that, Elliot stared intently into Kathy's eyes and turned around. He walked out of the house and down the steps. As he got into his car, he hit the steering wheel with his fist. He put the keys in the ignition and drove home. All he wanted was a beer.

* * *

Mrs. Cleine sat in the interrogation room with Lake and Munch. She had a coffee in her hand. Her tears were dried by now and she was exhausted. She had just come back from identifying her son's body, and she hadn't said anything. She looked up at Munch.

"I called Mickey about fifteen minutes ago; he said he would meet us here."

"Okay," Munch said with a smile. "Mrs. Cleine, you said your son went missing about two days ago, when was the last time you saw him."

"In the morning, before the bus came to pick him up. I gave him lunch and told him to meet me at home at four o'clock."

"Mrs. Cleine," Lake began, "did you see anybody unusual around. A man or woman that you hadn't seen before?"

"No, it was normal. The bus picked him up, and he waved goodbye at me." Her voice became high-pitched as she tried to hide her tears. "Who could have done this?" Suddenly, a knock came from the window. Cragen opened the door.

"Mr. Cleine just arrived, I'll bring him in." Mrs. Cleine sat nervously as her husband entered.

"Mr. Cleine," Lake said, "please take a seat."

"I'm fine. I just want to get this over with."

"Okay, how long have you two been separated again?"

Mrs. Cleine looked at the table and mumbled, "About three months."

Munch sighed, "How was Roger dealing with the separation."

Mr. Cleine looked pissed. "Why do you need to know this?"

Munch cleared his throat. "We need to know if your son had any problems emotionally that he may have not told you. Did he have someone specific in his life? Girlfriend? Best friend?"

"Not that we knew of," Mrs. Cleine stated.

Lake cleared his throat. "There is something else."

"What?" Mr. Cleine grunted.

"Well, I'm afraid your boy had signs of sexual assault."

"What?" Mrs. Cleine looked up.

Mr. Cleine turned his head and hit his fist on the wall. Then he turned back and pointed a finger at Eleanor. "This is all your fault you bitch! He should have lived with me!" Mrs. Cleine put her head down and sobbed quietly.

Munch stood up. "Mr. Cleine, this is not her fault. Your boy was strangled and raped. Don't put that on anybody but the person that did this to him."

Lake looked up. "You know what, I think that'll be fine for today. Why don't you two go home, and we'll call you as soon as we have a lead or need to ask some more questions." Munch helped Mrs. Cleine up and they all walked out of the interrogation room.

Cragen was on the other side of the mirror. After the couple was lead out of the precinct, Munch and Lake came over to him.

"I don't think the mother knows anything," Munch started, "and I think Mickey has his head too far up his ass to have noticed Roger's life." Lake nodded.

Cragen rubbed his forehead. "Okay, it's about nine o'clock. Benson and Stabler will be interviewing the school tomorrow, so why don't you two get some rest." Munch and Lake glanced at each other and nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This chapter goes more into the case, but trust me, it's all building up to something. Please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: They're not mine. Still.**

The next morning, Olivia and Elliot sat in the car, heading towards WP High School. Elliot hadn't said anything to Olivia the entire morning, even after she brought him coffee. Silence overwhelmed the car, and finally Olivia spoke.

"Wanna talk about it?" Her head turned from the window to look at him. He was staring intently at the road. He cleared his throat.

"Not really," he said blankly. Olivia couldn't think of anything else to say. She knew what Elliot was going through, and she couldn't pressure him. She turned her head back towards the window.

They pulled up to the school about ten minutes later. Classes had already started as they entered the hallway. Elliot and Olivia went into the main office. A quirky looking woman was sitting at one of the small desks typing. She had large, black framed glasses and her hair was in a bun. Olivia and Elliot walked over to her and flashed their badges.

"Hi," Olivia stated nonchalantly, "My name is Detective Benson and this is my partner Detective Stabler. We are here in the matter of Roger Cleine." The woman looked up. Once the shock was erased from her face, she nodded.

"Yes, the missing student. Listen, we have already talked to missing persons. Each of the teachers have given their statements."

"Well matters have changed," cut in Elliot. "I'm afraid that Roger was found yesterday morning. This case has now reached a homicide, so I'm afraid we will have to talk the all of the staff again, preferably the males." A new form of shock registered on the woman's face. She stood up and walked from behind her desk.

"He's dead. H-how?"

"I am afraid that we are not at liberty to give out that kind of information right now until we know for sure." Olivia commented.

"Well at least tell me why you need the male teachers."

Elliot paused. "We work in the Special Victims Unit of the police department, which means that we work sexually based crimes." The desk clerk looked Elliot straight in the eye until she opened wide-eyed, understanding what he meant. She turned away and walked back behind her desk where she started to type on the computer.

She looked up. "He has about seven class periods and only two of his teachers are male. Mr. Tom Crin is his band teacher and Mr. Rick Foley is his homeroom teacher."

Elliot and Olivia glanced at each other, and then turned back to face the woman. "We are going to need their room numbers," Olivia said.

Olivia and Elliot walked into room 314, the band room. As they walked in, they could here the screeching of violins and the unsettling noise of drums. They could only guess that this was beginning band.

They walked into the room. Many kids around 13 to 15 were blue in the face blowing on horns and other instruments. Olivia couldn't help but smile a little bit. Elliot glanced at her and had a slight smile on his face too. They turned back to look at the front of the room. Tom Crin was conducting from an elevated stand, his white conducting stick flinging back and forth in the air.

The bell soon rang, and as the students were clearing their instruments, Elliot and Olivia walked over to question him.

"Hi," Mr. Crin said in a cheery voice, "how can I help you?"

Elliot flashed his badge and said, "We're here on the matter of Roger Cleine."

Mr. Crin's appearance suddenly became serious. "Did you find him?"

Olivia took a deep breath. "I am sorry to inform you that his body was found yesterday morning."

Mr. Crin sat down on the stand. "How did he die?"

"I am sorry, but we can't give out that information right now. We just want to know, how was your relationship with him in this class?" Elliot asked.

"He was one the best we had. He knew how to play the guitar so well," Mr. Crin suddenly zoned out. "This shouldn't happen to a little boy, you know? I always told him to come and talk to me. He would have told me if someone was bothering him."

Olivia knelt down beside him. "We are very sorry for the loss Mr. Crin," she smiled. "But I'm afraid we need to know where you were at about three or four yesterday morning."

"So we can clear you, "Elliot finished.

"I- I would have been sleeping at that time."

"Do you have anyone to support that statement?" Olivia stated.

"No, I live alone." Olivia nodded.

"Where were you about three days ago, around his disappearance?" Olivia stated standing up straight.

"Well, I would have been in south of Jersey. I am teaching seminars right now. You can ask anyone. I just got back yesterday morning."

"Ok," Elliot said. "We can check that out. One more thing, we are just going to need a DNA sample to clear you."

"Yeah, that's no problem. When can I come in?"

Olivia slightly smiled. "Tomorrow morning. Our medical examiner would just have to take a quick swab; you'll be out in no time."

Mr. Crin stood up from the stand and looked Elliot straight in the eye. "I'll do whatever I can to help the investigation. Roger was a great student. He shouldn't have died."

Elliot smiled and reached into the inside of his coat pocket, pulling out a business-like card. "Give us a call if you remember anything else." With that last gesture, the bell rang and detectives Benson and Stabler left the room as a crowd of ninth graders entered.

The two detectives then walked to room 409, Rick Foley's room. A man was sitting at the desk. He was large and African American. The kids sitting in the desks looked more like juniors than freshmen. The two opened the door slowly.

"Mr. Foley," Elliot said holding up his badge, "Could we talk to you for a minute." All of the kids shot up at the sight of the badge. Whispers began. The man stood up and shushed the children before turning back to the detectives.

"I'm sorry, but I am not Mr. Foley. He was out today. I'm Mr. Garret, the substitute. Can I help you?"

"No thank-you. Sorry for the disruption," Olivia said quickly as both she and Elliot quickly ushered out of the door.

"Well that was embarrassing," Olivia smirked.

Elliot nodded. "I guess we should head to the office to find out his home address."

"We could also kill two birds with one stone. We need to talk to the principal."

* * *

Elliot and Olivia sat in two uncomfortable oak chairs waiting for Miss Shipper, the high school principal, to enter. The woman walked in. She was slightly overweight, with what looked like Hispanic decent. Both of the detectives stood up at her presence and shook her hand while introducing them selves.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting. I just came from an administrative board meeting." She chuckled, "Nobody is ever satisfied with school lunches. What can I help you with? My assistant, Nancy, informed me that this is about Roger."

"I suppose she also filled you in that we found his body near the Hudson River yesterday morning."

The woman paused. "Yes, she did. Now is there something you need?"

Olivia furrowed her eyebrow. "Miss Shipper, Roger was abducted two days before his death. We looked at his attendance record and he didn't come in that morning, but your school never informed his mother. Isn't it the schools responsibility to do so if a child has skipped any classes immediately?"

Miss Shipper frowned and sighed. "Look, detective Benson, right? This is a public school. A lot of kids skip almost everyday. We can't always keep track of why a student doesn't come in."

Elliot sat up straight. "We understand that Miss Shipper, but all do respect, that was a direct violation and because the mother wasn't informed sooner, the police didn't have an immediate lead to the boy. Now he's dead and it really doesn't look good for the administration."

"Look detectives, I love all of the children in this school, and if I had an idea about the danger that might be involved, I would have done something, but the tax payers only give us the credibility if the children are shown into school."

Olivia smirked. "Are you serious? So what you're saying is that basically since you can't afford to lose your financial interest, you don't mark these children as absent?"

"That is not what we're saying detective," She began raising her voice. She took a deep breath and spoke slowly. "All I am saying is that this school has over three thousand students, and the system can't always catch them. If it did, our funding would be in debt. It is nothing out of the ordinary. That's how we pay for new equipment, maintenance, and teacher salaries."

Elliot looked confused. "But if you have over three thousand students, the tax payer's money should be more than enough."

Miss Shipper chuckled, "Have you ever been to a public school detective Stabler?"

He leaned back, "No, I went to a Catholic."

"Exactly. On an average rate, about 15 to 25 of students miss school each day. If you add that to the amount spent for lunches, equipment, salaries, books, construction – you should be happy we have a roof over our heads." She paused, "Is there anything else?"

Olivia and Elliot both stood up. "One last thing," Olivia said as Elliot opened the door. "We are going to need Rick Foley's home address."

Miss Shipper smiled, "I'll buzz Nancy."

* * *

Detective Fin Tutuola walked into the squad room. Most of the desks were empty, which he expected most of his unit to be out doing field work. He walked over to Cragen's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in," He heard a husky voice say. Cragen looked up as he saw Fin walk into his room. He had a small amount of shock form over his face but it was soon lost by a smirk. "Detective, you do realize that when I say take a week off, I usually mean more than a couple of days."

Fin smiled and took a seat. "My couch got bored of my ass print."

"I see," Cragen chuckled. "Well right now most of the people are out working on the kid case."

"Yeah, I saw that on the news."

"Look, Fin, are you sure you can come back right now? The last trial took a toll on you."

Fin paused, "Look, Captain, the trial took a toll on the entire squad. I should be askin' you the same thing."

"Let me guess, Munch told you about the commissioner."

"Who else? He didn't give me much information, but I can pretty much guess that you're worried 'bout your command."

"How?"

"That guy that me and Lake were tailing durin' Darius's trial, you told us to leave it alone. I did some research."

"What did you find?" Cragen asked sitting back down while leaning back in his chair.

"He used to be your mentor. File said that about 15 years ago, he was de-commanded for police brutality and drinking on the job. They said the man to testify was none other than Donald Cragen. Commission and internal affairs gave you entailing promotions for your testimony. You became captain of homicide, while he dropped down to vice cop informant."

Cragen rested his elbows on his desk and rubbed his forehead. "That it?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much what the file said." Fin looked Cragen straight in the eye. "No wonder he wants you to be de-commissioned."

"How did you get the file?"

Fin smiled, "You'd be surprised at the connection narcotics cops have. Just give 'em a call and you can find anything about anyone."

Cragen sat up straight and looked at Fin. "Fin, right now, everything is pretty much covered with the case. Munch is paired up with Lake right now, so if you wanted to come back early, I would have to assign you to desk duty for awhile."

Fin got up and smirked, "Trust me Capt., that's nothin' compared to starin' at my wall for the next few days. I'll work the case, who knows, maybe there is something they missed." With that last comment, Fin walked out of the office, and headed for squad room.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Okay, so this chapter just goes a little more into the case, but the next one is full of drama. I think this might become EO at the end, but that all depends on how people review.**

**A/N2: Thank you to all the reviewers so far. You have no idea how awesome it is to read them!**

Elliot and Olivia walked up to the residence of Rick Foley. His townhouse was quite commodious with a flower bed set out front. Elliot knocked on the door. A thin blonde woman with high cheekbones answered the door. She wore a black skirt and collared pink top. The first thought Elliot had was that this man better be exceptionally good looking to have a wife that looks like Pamela Anderson on her Baywatch days.

Olivia noticed his look and had to step forward before the silence became uncomfortable. She flashed her golden badge.

"Hello, are you Mrs. Foley?"

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"I'm Detective Benson and this is Detective Stabler. Is your husband home?"

"Oh," she suddenly perked up. "This must be about the poor missing boy that I saw on the news. Please come in."

Olivia smiled, "Thank-you."

"My husband ran out to the store, he should be back in a few minutes." Olivia walked into the hallway. A glass chandelier was hanging over them, as a spiral staircase loomed over the marble tiling. Paintings were on the walls, and by the looks of them, she could tell that they probably cost more than a year of her salary.

Elliot was also shell-shocked. By now he had regained his composure. He looked over at Olivia as she looked up at the ceiling. He guessed he would have to jump in.

"Mrs. Foley, we understand your husband works at a public school district. Not to sound like IRS, but you guys must be swimming in debt."

The woman smiled, "Please detective, call me Clarissa, and actually no. I spent most of my late twenties as a Playboy model. Trust me, money is not an issue."

"I see," Olivia stated, coming back down to earth. "Clarissa, if your husband called in sick today, why is he at the store."

Clarissa chuckled, "Don't tell me that you never took a day off when you weren't sick. He just needed the time. This deal with one of the students, Roger, took him pretty hard. The kid looked up to him." She ushered the detectives into the living room where she sat them down. "Can I get you two some tea?"

They both nodded. "That would be great, thank-you," Olivia said politely.

As the woman walked out, Elliot and Olivia glanced once more over the place.

"So what do you think?" asked Elliot.

"I think I should have been a Playboy model," Olivia smirked.

Elliot smiled, "Let me just say that this guy is either incredibly good-looking or has one hell of a personality."

Suddenly, they both heard the front door open. Footsteps came towards the living room. A short man with dark rimmed glasses and brown hair walked into the room with a grocery bag in his hands. Elliot and Olivia immediately stood up at his presence.

"Excuse me," he said in a rather contradicting tone, "Who are you?"

Clarissa walked into the room with a tray in her hands. On it were china tea cups and a pitcher.

"Oh, hi honey," she said putting down the platter. "These are detectives. They're here about Roger."

"Oh," he said in a small voice. "Um, I'll be right back. I just need to put the bag down."

"I'll come help," said Clarissa. They both quickly walked out of the room. Olivia turned to Elliot.

"Well, I guess it must be the personality," she smirked.

"He's like modern day Urkel," Elliot commented.

The married couple then walked into the room and sat on the couch across from the detectives.

"So," Rick said, "What can you tell me?"

Elliot leaned back, "I'm sorry to tell you that Roger's body was found yesterday morning near the Hudson."

"Oh, oh my god," Mr. Foley put his head in his hands. His wife scooted closer to him and rubbed him on his back.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," Olivia said soothingly, "but there are just a few questions we have to ask you."

The man brought his head up from his hand. He sat up straight and looked at them. "Anything I can do to help."

Elliot cleared his throat, "How well did you know Roger?"

"He wasn't a very open kid. I was only his home room teacher, but I kind of acted as his counselor too. Sometimes," he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, "he would come to me after school or in the morning to talk about things."

"Like what?"

"You know, his parents separation, the custody battle. School and friends."

"Was there any kid at school that he was close to?" Olivia gestured, sitting forward.

"No, that's just it. He didn't have any. In any case, I was probably his closest friend."

"I see," Elliot said. "Within the last week or so, was there anybody who he mentioned was giving him trouble?"

"Not really, just the same people he always talked about."

"Who were they?" Elliot asked.

"Um, just some kids that always picked on him for being a loner. The person that he always talked about was Steven Haldy, a sophomore."

"Mr. Foley," Olivia stated, "We need to know where you were about two days ago from yesterday. About the time that Roger went missing."

"I was at school. The records can show it. I don't remember if I saw him in the morning or not. Maybe, if I would've noticed, I could have warned authorities sooner."

"Honey," Clarissa said, "This wasn't you fault."

"One more thing," Elliot stated, "do you think you could give us a DNA sample?"

Before the man answered, Clarissa commented, "Of course he will detectives. Is there anything else?"

Olivia and Elliot both stood up. "No, I think that's about it," Olivia said. She reached into her coat pocket and took out her card. She handed it to Mr. Foley who was still sitting. "If you can give us anymore information, feel free to call. We can show ourselves out."

Elliot and Olivia turned to walk out, but suddenly Mr. Foley asked, "How did he die?"

Olivia turned around and smiled. "We can fill you in on that detail tomorrow when we take your DNA sample." Rick Foley nodded and put his head back down as his wife enveloped him in a hug.

Benson and Stabler lead themselves out of the house and headed towards the car.

"He's hiding something," Olivia said while walking.

"Why? Because he was upset that one of his students died?"

Olivia turned to look at him. "No, because he hardly knew the kid, and because I think he is." They both went to open their car doors.

Elliot furrowed his brow. "Well no offense, but I don't think that's good enough." Olivia pinned him with a stare. She wanted to yell at him, say something, anything, but she couldn't. The last thing she needed was an argument. She sighed and got in the car. Without a word from either of them, they drove back to the station in silence, each not being able to say what was on their minds.

* * *

The next day was rather slow. In the morning, both Rick Foley and Tom Crin came in to give their DNA samples. After that, everybody pretty much sat and did paperwork. Until the samples came in, they didn't really have other suspects. 

Earlier that day, Munch and Lake had gone back to the school to interview Steven Haldy, Roger's so called bully. They pretty much cleared him. He had an airtight alibi the last week at a skateboarding tournament.

The squad room was quiet, filled with noises of paperwork and case files being handled, until Melinda Warner walked in. Olivia was the first one to see her. She smiled and stood up to greet her. Elliot looked up and did the same.

"Hi you two," she exclaimed in her all-knowing tone. "I had my lunch break, so I decided to tell you my results on the Roger Cleine case in person." She reached into her bag that was dangling on her arm, and pulled out a vanilla looking file.

Elliot took it from her grasp. "Tell me it's something good." He opened it, and spent the next few seconds reading it.

He suddenly looked up at Olivia. "Son of a bitch. The DNA found on Roger matches a Mr. Rick Foley."

**That button down there looks lonely; maybe you should press it and leave a review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay, first of all, thank you to everyone reading and reviewing the story, you all ROCK! I hope you keep reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, you would have seen me on TV by now. **

Within a half an hour, Elliot and Olivia were outside of Rick Foley's apartment, walking down his steps with him in handcuffs.

"Mr. Foley," Olivia continued, "you are under arrest for the rape homicide of Roger Cleine. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. If you wave that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?" He nodded his head, and with that she shoved his head in the back of their squad car.

The entire time, Mrs. Foley screaming, "You have the wrong man. Don't worry honey; you'll be out by tonight!"

They headed back into the station, bringing him immediately into the interrogation room. Cragen was already outside of the two-way mirror looking into the room as Rick sat with his head down. Elliot and Olivia walked up to him.

"Should we go in there?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah. You and Liv go in there, but don't question him. We can't until his attorney gets here." They both nodded and Elliot and Olivia walked in.

"Well Rick," started Olivia, "You got yourself into a mess, haven't you?"

"I didn't do anything," he stated.

Elliot smirked, "I'm sorry, did you hear that Liv?" He looked down at Rick. "We can't talk to you until your lawyer gets here."

"I don't care," he said, anger rising in his voice. "I'll sign what I have to. I don't want a lawyer." Olivia took a file that was in her hand and pulled out a document and a pen.

"Just sign on the dotted line," she smirked. He bent over and quickly signed without a second thought.

"There," he said, pushing the document back across the table.

"Ok," Elliot said getting comfortable across from him. "Now, why don't you tell us why your semen was found on a fourteen year old boy."

"Look," he started. "It's not what you think."

"Ha," Olivia said looking at Elliot and then back at Rick. "What we think?" Elliot got up from the table and leaned over to the man, his face only inches away.

He said in a quiet but intimidating tone, "You know what I think? I think you have a thing for young boys. You saw Roger every day, trying to talk to you, you just couldn't take it."

"No, no, no, no! You don't understand. I saw him the day he disappeared."

"That's not what you told the police Rick," Olivia said with a smirk. "So then why would you lie?"

"Because, he came to me that morning before school. He was talking about how his parents were officially separating. He had no one else, he needed me."

"When you said he needed you, you meant what, that you had sex with him."

"You don't get it! I loved Roger, and he loved me. It started a couple of months ago, but it was always consensual." Olivia and Elliot both looked shell-shocked. They hadn't expected a confession to something like this.

Rick continued, "He left when the bell rang, and I hadn't seen him since." Rick started to tear up, his glasses fogging. "And now, he's – gone. And I didn't say goodbye." He looked Elliot in the eyes. "I swear, his death was not my fault."

Olivia finally spoke, "It's also known as statutory rape, Mr. Foley." Her voice was hard and accusing. "At this point, it doesn't matter if you killed him or not. You still had sex with a minor."

Elliot wasn't taking this. He swerved his hand around, pushing the table to the other side of the wall. Then he took the chair from under Rick, and threw it across the room. He grabbed the man by the collar and shoved him against the wall.

"You know what I think?" Elliot said in a low and threatening tone, "I think that he was scarred, and that he trusted you. When you thought he might tell, you grabbed the closest thing to you and pressed it against his neck."

"I didn't kill him," he said sobbing. Elliot wasn't finished.

Elliot shoved him over to the other wall, pressing his forearm against his throat. His anger was the only thing he could feel.

Elliot continued, "You looked him straight in the eye as he died, as his life was being sucked out. You sick bastard," he growled.

Elliot could feel his grip getting tighter and tighter. He wanted to kill this man, and he was almost at the point of no return. He was staring at this disgusting pedophile, who thought that he hadn't done anything wrong. What kind of person is that? Elliot was sick of it. He needed to keep choking him. He just needed to hurt this one creep, just take his life away. If he did that, then maybe all of his other problems would disappear.

Thinking that he would never come back from the rage, he felt somebody grab his arm that was around Rick's neck. He looked over to the owner of the hand, and met Olivia's eyes.

She stood strong and tall, with fire in her vision, but the touch on his arm was soft.

"That's enough Elliot," she stated calmly. He looked at her, not wanting to let go of the man. But somehow, she had something over him that pulled him back to reality. With all the might that he could, Elliot let go of the man, letting Rick fall and sob on the ground.

He didn't know what to do. He was so pissed at everything and everybody. He turned and stormed out of the interrogation room, passed Cragen, Lake, and Munch. He just couldn't look at anybody. Elliot swiftly turned onto the stairs and headed up to the crib.

Olivia took a breath and walked out of the room, next to Cragen. She rubbed her forehead and sighed before anything was said. Cragen looked at her, she seemed so tired. All of his detectives did. He knew as well as anybody did that she was tough, but it took a lot out of her to stop Elliot. It always did.

He decided to start talking. "Munch, Lake, go in there. Olivia -"

"I'm on it," she said before he could finish. She turned on her heel out of the room. As she walked up the stairs, she just felt so out of it. Within the past few days, she had had to deal with Internal Affairs, her brother, her job, and now Elliot. Olivia was losing her confidence, and she could tell the squad was too. She didn't know what to say as she headed up to the room, but she knew that nothing made sense right now.

* * *

Elliot stood next to one of the cots. He was so angry. So hurt by everything. He didn't know what to do, how to deal with any of this. Kathy, Kathleen, the sick pedophile downstairs. He felt drained. He wanted to punch something. Scream. That's when he heard the door open. He didn't have to even look to know who it was. 

"Elliot what was that?" she said calmly. Olivia closed the door behind her and crossed her arms.

"The sick piece of crap had it coming."

She walked closer. "El, you of all people know that you can't afford another brutality report," she sounded firm and confident. "What, do you want to purposefully lose your job?"

Elliot was so angry that he didn't feel like dealing with what had happened. So instead, he did what he usually did. He hurt and pushed people that he cared about away.

"Well, at least I have a choice," said Elliot. He turned to look at her. He was pissed off and she could tell. Elliot was going to let his anger out on anybody around.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she said looking at him straight in the eye. He raised his voice.

"It means that at least I wasn't pathetic enough to put my job in jeopardy by sending money to a convict even if he was my brother." He looked at her, like he was superior, like everything was her fault.

Olivia was shell-shocked that he had just said that to her. She was speechless.

Elliot could see he hit a sore spot, but he wasn't backing down anyway.

"And you know what?" he continued, "It wasn't even worth it. Simon hasn't called you since the trial." Elliot stared her straight in the eye as he said more, "You know, my family might be a little messed up right now, but at least I have one. This job is all you have Olivia, and you almost lost it for nothing."

Olivia was done. She was done being passive and nice to him. Letting him say what he wanted and start arguments. She was tired of not being able to yell at him. But after that comment, she was done. She wanted to get angry, because she was too pissed.

"You son of a bitch. You know what?" she started with a threatening tone, keeping her eyes locked with Elliot's. "That was uncalled for and unfair Elliot and you know that. And I have had it up to here with you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Olivia raised her voice, "It means screw you Elliot!" She walked over to the other side of the room and faced him again.

"Go to hell!" he retorted.

She continued with her voice firm, "You are not the only one having problems here Elliot. This whole squad is sinking. Everybody has been losing it after this damn trial! And I know that you're angry right now, so I am not going to take that last comment as seriously as I should."

Olivia could suddenly feel herself falling apart. She never thought that Elliot would say that in a million years. It felt as if someone had just stabbed her.

Tears were springing to her eyes, making them glisten, but she was strong enough to hold them back. Elliot couldn't see her eyes glisten over anyway; he was too consumed with his own rage.

"And you want to know the worst part," Olivia continued. "The worst part is that no matter what hell everybody has to deal with, we are all breaking our backs trying to make sure that _your _okay."

Olivia was so enraged by now. She wanted to tell him off. She walked up to him, face to face, so that they were only inches apart.

She kept talking, looking him straight in the eye, "So, you want to act all tough and angry, and try to kill the bastard downstairs, that's fine with me! But don't you dare act like you expect any of us to care anymore, especially if you are going to treat us like garbage."

Both of the stares given were deadly. They stared at each other intently for what seemed like minutes. Neither of them said a word, mostly because there was nothing else to be said. All that could be heard was their pulsing breaths. Suddenly, as if on queue, Cragen walked in.

They both took their glances away from each other to look at him. Cragen had confusion written on his face for a minute, but it soon turned to aggravation.

"Rick Foley was telling the truth. He didn't kill Roger Cleine," he said.

"How do you know?" Olivia said.

"Because another boy was just found near the Hudson. Same M.O. and same age. You two are on it." It took Elliot and Olivia a second to interpret what he just said. "Can you two handle it?" They both nodded.

Olivia pushed pass Elliot and Cragen, heading downstairs. The two men watched her exit, and then Cragen turned to stare at Elliot. Elliot looked defeated, and pained. Cragen and he locked eye contact for a minute, before Cragen turned and walked out of the room as well, leaving Elliot alone by one of the empty cots.

* * *

Olivia went down the stairs and headed straight for the bathroom. She leaned on the counter and looked up at herself. Tears were finally falling. She hated that. She hardly cried, ever. It hurt her. It hurt her so much. And she didn't even know what _it_ was. How could Elliot do this to her? After everything. She tried to push the tears back, but they kept coming. She turned and hit one of the stall doors of the bathroom. She hit it again and again and again. She screamed in annoyance and hit it one more time. She was so glad it was empty. 

She knew that when she walked out, she would have to make sure that she didn't have watering eyes. Olivia would be strong, and she wouldn't show her weakness, like she always did. Not to anyone, especially Elliot. Olivia didn't make a sound; she let the tears fall while she looked at herself in the mirror. These past few weeks had been tough on everyone. It suddenly hit her that she could really lose her job. Internal Affairs hadn't gotten back to her yet, and she would be hearing from them soon. Everything was falling apart, and the last thing she wanted to do right now was leave, and look at a dead boy's body.

Oh, God, she had to pull it together. Olivia Benson didn't cry. Never. Eventually, she wiped the streaks away. She redid her makeup, and put on an aggressive face. The truth was that she didn't care anymore.

**A/N: So what did you think? Press that button down there and tell me.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey everybody. I just wanted to say that I have read each and every one of your reviews (they're like candy to me). Each of them is taken to heart because you all are so awesome! So keep reviewing!**

**A/N2: Okay, so I know a lot happened in the last chapter (I got emotional writing it myself). So keep reading on, because stuff is going to happen.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. I wish I did, but I don't. It's sad, I know.**

Elliot and Olivia arrived at the scene, about five blocks from where the first murder had occurred. The drive was silent, and when they got out of the car and onto the muddy ground, they saw a uniform heading towards them.

"You must be Special Victims," he said, "we arrived on the seen about twenty minutes ago, he looks like yours." They all started to walk towards the yellow tape. As Olivia and Elliot ducked under it, the uniform stayed there. Elliot turned back to look at him.

"Sorry," the uniform stated, "but my partner just threw up from the scene. We have to head back." Elliot nodded and followed Olivia's footprints to where the crime scene lay. They both walked over, Warner was already checking him out.

"What do you think?" Olivia asked. She and Elliot slouched over the body, pulling on their white gloves.

"Well," Warner started, "Same age and type. Same cause of death; trachea crushed by what looks like the same object. His arms are crossed over the same way." She paused, "The only difference is that this boy has no fluids present like the other one. No semen or spermicide, and I see no trauma."

Olivia looked at Elliot, "Well, I guess that checks Rick out." Elliot nodded, and they both stood up.

Warner stood up as well. "I guess I'll try to get the results in as soon as I can. Two murders within three days, this guy is probably a serial." She closed her case, and with that, headed to her car.

Elliot and Olivia walked back to the car.

"God, I thought it was Rick," he exclaimed as they passed the yellow police tape.

"Well, you were wrong. I think we have bigger problems, anyway. We are about out of suspects and no eye witnesses."

"Lets head back and see if we can find a connection. We don't even know the boy's name." They both got in the car and drove back to the station in silence. Neither one making eye contact with the other.

* * *

The next day, Elliot and Olivia sat at their desks, going through some case files. Everybody was silent and no body made looked at eachother. Elliot looked up from his desk to across from him, where Olivia sat drenched in files. He could tell she was overworked at that moment. He didn't know why he hadn't noticed before. They hadn't talked about anything other than work since the fight. What could he say? He knew he crossed the line in a way. 

The truth was that it killed him inside to know that he had hurt her. But he sure as hell wasn't going to back down. He grunted and put his head back down to his own desk.

Cragen suddenly put the attention towards him. He walked out of the office with a file that was being held up. "Attention, we have an ID on our John Doe." All four detectives stood up, except for Fin, who had been busy filing paperwork for the past two days.

Cragen continued, "His name is James Collin."

Elliot cut in, "How did he get into the system?"

"Foster care," Cragen said while putting the boy's picture on the board. "He lives near south Jersey right now. His foster mother, Elizabeth Trolley, put a missing persons report on the boy two days earlier."

"That's about the same amount of time as Roger," Olivia commented. "What school did he go to?"

"No luck there," Cragen stated. "He went to a May Style High School. It's also in south of Jersey where he lives. Anybody got anything?"

Munch stepped forward, "Me and Mr. Five-year-old over her," he pointed to Lake, "have been checking out sex offenders on parole in the same area, but when Stabler and Benson said that the second boy had no sexual trauma, we came up with a different theory."

"And what's that?" Cragen asked.

Lake cut in this time, "Maybe it was never about sexual favors. If that guy Rick Foley was telling the truth, it means that our killer probably isn't a pedophile. So we were thinking maybe we should give Homicide a call. See if they have any recent parolees out on probation in the Manhattan and Jersey areas."

"Okay," Cragen nodded, "you two go check out the 23rd precinct. Ask for Greene, he can give you more files then you know." He turned towards Elliot and Olivia, "You two, go to Warner's. I just got a call; she wants to show you something."

Fin suddenly spoke up in a sarcastic tone, "Yeah. Don't worry 'bout me. I got enough to do over here." He put his head back on his desk, leaving him with the biggest anticipation of the end of the week when he could get back on the field.

The four detectives each put on their jackets and headed to their squad cars.

* * *

Lake and Munch sat in the car, about fifteen minutes away from the 23rd precinct. They hadn't overall talked that much, mostly because they didn't have many things in common, and mostly because Munch just didn't like him. The silence was overwhelming and eventually Lake spoke up. 

"So, how long have you been a cop?" Lake said looking at the road.

Munch put on his sunglasses. "Well, let's see. I started at the academy when you were probably in preschool."

Lake smirked. "You don't like me that much, do you?"

Munch smiled, "What's not to like?"

"You know, this is why I worked solo in Brooklyn. I tend to not get along with partners. I tend to piss people off."

Munch sighed, "Well, I'll give you a break here. People tend to get annoyed by my ranting, yet accurate, conspiracy theories."

Lake laughed. Still looking at the road ahead, he said, "So I heard you used to be in Homicide up in Baltimore. Why'd you leave?"

"Because I had a five year old partner like you," Munch said sarcastically.

"No, seriously. Why would you leave that place to come to sex crimes? A lot of cops would think you're insane."

"The truth?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not totally sure myself. I was tired of seeing all of the death, and I guess I wanted to see more of the living. Besides, it was either Special Victims or Vice."

"I don't think Vice would be as hard as SVU," Lake said.

"I guess it's just something that needed to be done," Munch continued. "Me and the guys back at the squad, Elliot, Olivia, Fin, we don't really have explanations. We do it because no one else will. It's kind of what makes us a family. Why'd you do it?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I almost quit after the first week. I had a kid case. A four year old girl was raped and smothered. When I came to the scene, her eyes were still open," he paused, "I can't get them out of my head."

"So why did you keep doing it?"

"Because, like you said Munch, somebody has to."

They spent the rest of the ride in silence. When they parked and got out of the car, Munch looked at him.

"Your okay with me kid."

Lake smiled back at him, "Your not too bad yourself." Lake smirked, "Considering that you're an old man."

* * *

Detectives Benson and Stabler walked into Melinda Warner's office. She was in the middle of another autopsy. Her tape recorder was on and she was wearing blue scrubs with her curly hair tied back. 

". . . liver is severely lacerated from about two inches in length. Lungs are incinerated and filled with fluid." She looked up and saw her two guests. "Oh, hello detectives. You guys make good timing." She took off the mask covering her face and put the light blue sheet over the victim she was working on. Melinda pulled her gloves off and put them in the trash. "Here, follow me," she continued.

Olivia and Elliot followed her quick pace to the coroner's room, where they keep the bodies in drawer shelves. Melinda walked over to the middle where the handle of one of the shelves said "Collin, James".

She pulled on the handle and it let out a plastic body bag. She unzipped it showing the 14 year old boys face.

Elliot and Olivia were pretty much hardened by experience that they shouldn't have flinched when they saw the boy's features, but somehow, this boy just hurt them. He was young and handsome, and even though they had come to the crime scene before and seen him, there was just something so sad about him lying quietly and calmly in a gloomy coroner's office.

"He reminds me of my son," Elliot mumbled. Olivia glanced over at him. It was something personal to him and she knew that.

"So," Olivia said not taking her eyes off of the boy, "what did you want to show us."

"Well," Melinda began, "your first victim didn't really have any DNA or clues on his body other than the semen. This boy, however, is different. Look at the neck. He was killed by the same object, but this time it left a small white residue. The white residue contained fluorescent particles that are used in plastic."

"So what are you saying?" Elliot jumped in.

"I'm saying that whatever killed your two boys was a small, long, probably light, plastic, and white object. Ring a bell?"

Elliot and Olivia glanced at each other and then back at Melinda.

"Not yet," Olivia finished.

* * *

The entire squad was sitting at their desks looking at the board, except for Fin who had been filing out papers nonstop. 

"So," Cragen said leaning on one of the desks, "What do we got?"

Munch cleared his throat, "Well, Mr. Stud over here," he pointed to Lake, "and I headed over to homicide. They only have two people on record that had the same M.O. However, one of them is serving a life sentence in Sing-Sing Correctional Facility, and the other is dead."

Munch continued, "I would say the dead one did it, but he liked to have sexual encounters, which we have now established was not the base of these killings."

"So what?" Cragen asked, "Is the trail cold? Can we find any connection between these two boys?"

Olivia jumped in leaning back in her chair, "Other than the fact that they both went missing two days before the murders and had the same cause of death, no."

"Not anything?" Cragen urged.

Elliot began to speak, "They had separate lives. One went to WP High School in Queens; the other went to May Style High School in south Jersey. They lived in separate areas, used different stores. There is no connection."

A silence overwhelmed the room. It was full of defeat.

Suddenly, Fin spoke up. Everybody seemed to jump, forgetting he was here.

"You guys, I think I got somethin'," he said. "You said that Mr. Crin, the choir teacher, was teaching seminars?"

Olivia nodded.

He continued, looking down at the file in his hands. "Well, it says right here that when you were interviewing him, he said he was down near south Jersey when Roger Cleine was found." He stood up and gave the file to Cragen, "Right around the time that James Collin went missing."

Everybody's eyes opened wide. Elliot stood up and looked at the file and then at Fin.

"He could have easily killed and dumped Roger before he went, leaving him just enough time to grab James," Fin finished.

Cragen looked around, "Did anybody ask what schools he went to when he was teaching these seminars?"

Munch stood up, "Nobody thought it was relevant."

"Wait!" suddenly Olivia popped out of her seat and looked at Elliot and then at Cragen. "Warner said that the object that killed both of them was small, long, white, and made of plastic." She looked at Elliot, "It was his conducting stick."

Elliot's eyes widened and they both looked at Cragen.

Suddenly, the phone rang and Cragen quickly picked it up. His expression changed from confusion to hurt. "Thank you," he said into the receiver.

He looked up and rubbed his face, while looking at the detectives. "Miss Jane Blossom called dispatch about fifteen minutes ago. Her son, Kevin Blossom, didn't come home last night. I was just informed that he is the same age as both victims." Cragen paused, "He also went to WP High School."

"Son of a bitch," mumbled Lake.

Cragen pulled himself together. "Okay, Munch, you and Lake go talk to Miss Blossom. Elliot, Olivia," he looked at them, "I need you two to go pick up Tom Crin now."

He didn't even have to finish. All four of the detectives were out of the room in less than five seconds.

**A/N: Review! (I don't know how else to put it).**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hi! So this chapter is the turning point of the story, and I got kind of emotional writing it myself. As always, review, review, and review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own a damn thing. **

"Elliot, he's not here," Olivia tried to yell over his intense knocking. They had been outside of Mr. Crin's townhouse for fifteen minutes now. Their adrenaline was pumping, and they knew he wasn't home, but somehow, Elliot wouldn't stop knocking on the door. Olivia ran to the bottom of the steps and called Cragen. Elliot was only half listening because he was trying to peer through the window.

"Captain, it's me," she said into the receiver.

"Are you bringing him in?" Olivia could here Cragen's antsy voice on the other line.

Olivia sighed, "No, he's not home. Do you want us to head back?"

"Not yet, head to the school first. Munch and Lake are still at Miss Blossom's house, maybe they'll have something." They both hung up.

Olivia went back up the stoop and put her hand on Elliot's fist to stop him. He looked at her.

"Elliot, he isn't home. Cragen said we should head to the school." Elliot hardly looked at her. He swiftly turned towards the car, Olivia right behind him.

* * *

Munch and Lake were in the middle of questioning Miss Blossom while CSU dusted for prints around the premises.

"I just don't know," she was sobbing. "He usually comes home late from practice, and I go to bed early." She inhaled and her voice turned squeaky. "I woke up this morning and he wasn't in his bed. I thought maybe he had left for school, but he didn't come home that night either. I called the school and they said they hadn't seen him since ye-yesterday."

She put her head into Munch's shoulder and cried some more. Lake continued to ask questions.

"Miss Blossom, you said you thought your son was at practice. What does he play?"

She looked up, "He isn't really into sports, and he was at band practice. He plays the cello."

At that, Munch and Lake immediately looked at each other. Lake got up and walked into the other room to phone the squad room.

Cragen picked up.

"Captain, it's Lake."

"Tell me something good."

"Tom Crin is definitely our guy. Me and Munch just confirmed that he taught band to Kevin Blossom. Did Benson and Stabler bring him in yet?"

"I just talked to Liv," Cragen said. "He isn't at his home, so they are going to try to pick him up at the school."

"Okay, we're going to head back to the unit after a little more questioning."

Cragen grunted and they both hung up.

* * *

Elliot and Olivia ran down the school's hallway and into the band room. They immediately heard the horrible clanking of beginners band, and this time it wasn't adorable.

They walked in, handcuffs in hand, only to find that the conductor at the front was not Mr. Crin. Elliot was too tired to wait for the song to end. He held up his badge and most of the kids stopped, terrified of why a cop was in their room.

Olivia ran to the front of the room and looked at what she could only assume was the substitute teacher.

"What is this about officers?" he said.

"Do you happen to know where Mr. Crin is?" Olivia quickly stated, almost out of breath from all of the running.

"He hasn't been in all day," said the substitute.

"Okay, thanks," said Olivia, halfway out of the door with Elliot in tow.

They ran down the hallway to the main office, their long coats trailing behind. As they entered, Elliot pushed himself against the desk as Olivia caught her breath.

The same woman as last time was at the desk. Elliot tried to remember her name. Fancy, Nancy, Andy, whatever, it didn't matter.

She smiled remembering them. "Hello detectives. What can I do for you?" she said pushing up her black framed glasses.

"Do you know where Tom Crin is located?" Elliot said without hesitation.

"I'll check." She typed quickly into the computer. Olivia finally caught her breath and walked up next to Elliot. They waited in silence. Elliot tapped his fingers on the counter.

"Okay, here we are," said the secretary. "He called sick today, and yesterday."

"Damnit," Olivia sighed. "Thanks anyway Nancy." Elliot looked at Olivia.

On the way out he asked, "How did you remember her name?"

They got in the car as she replied, "It's called listening to someone. You should try it sometime." He looked at her, furrowing his eyebrow as he sat in the driver's seat, starting the engine.

Olivia sighed, "I'm sorry, today just isn't a good day."

Elliot was taken back a little by the apology.

They had been in the car, heading back to the station. It was silent. After the fight, they didn't know how to talk anymore. Both of them were stubborn people, and they wouldn't let go of anything.

Olivia took a big sigh. She just didn't know what to do. She had meant everything she had said to him. She was tired of him acting the way he did, pushing people out of his life. He never asked about anybody else. He was just so angry at everybody, and she was tired of him letting it out on her. Elliot hadn't even asked her yet if she had heard from Internal Affairs. If she was keeping her job or not. Maybe it didn't matter to him, she thought.

Of course, Olivia hadn't heard from Internal Affairs, but it would be nice of him to care for once. As much as she hated to admit it, she cared about what he was going through. She cared about why he was angry, because deep down, Elliot would always be the closest thing in Olivia's life. However, for some odd reason it always scared her because she was never able to handle closeness.

She really wanted to be there for him, sometimes in more ways than one. But why should it matter? He said what he said already, and apparently she was worthless to him.

Suddenly, a voice came from the police dispatcher.

"We've got a 324. Man was seen dragging a young boy down Atlantic Avenue. Man is in early to late thirties, brown hair. Call was made about fifteen minutes ago. Looked like they were heading down to Columber Yard Warehouse. Please contact the . . ." Olivia quickly picked up the receiver.

"This is Olivia Benson, badge number 482935. We are headed. Might be a possible suspect sighting."

"Copy that," said the voice.

"You got that," Olivia looked at Elliot.

"Got it," Elliot said putting the siren on.

They sped across the freeway and headed into an abandoned warehouse. They quickly stopped the car and got out. Elliot immediately called for back-up as they both took out their guns. They walked into the warehouse, silently putting their backs up against the walls.

They came upon a colliding wall of boxes that split the room in two. Elliot looked over at Olivia, signaling that they split up. Olivia went to the right and Elliot went to the left.

Elliot swerved through the warehouse, putting his back to the wall every time he turned a corner. He didn't see anybody. Suddenly as he turned another corner, he heard two gun shots fire. He ducked immediately, and tried to follow the sound, gun in hand. He ran outside in front of the warehouse and turned to see Olivia standing there. Her gun was in her hand and she looked spaced out, staring at something.

Elliot looked at where she was looking and saw Tom Crin on the ground about fifteen feet away, bleeding. Elliot ran over to him and felt for a pulse. He had a small pulse.

Elliot called out to Olivia over his shoulder, "Liv, call an ambulance. He is just unconscious." Elliot than turned to his left and saw the boy standing in the corner. Elliot ran over to him, and immediately showed his police badge.

He kneeled down in front of the boy, "Hi, Kevin. My name is Detective Stabler. I'm here to take you back to your mom. Are you hurt?"

Kevin let the shock fade away and shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

Elliot smiled, "That's good. Help will be coming any minute." Elliot suddenly realized that he should've heard the sirens by now.

He turned back to Olivia and yelled, "Liv, did you call the ambul -"

Elliot stopped talking as he turned to look at Olivia. She was still standing. Her gun was by her side and she was looking down. Elliot looked down too. He saw her put her hand inside her long coat, and when her hand emerged, it was covered in blood. Her blood.

Elliot saw that blood was dripping from underneath her coat. Olivia looked up and locked eyes with him. She was shocked, and tears were streaming down her face. Olivia hadn't even realized that she had been injured herself.

Suddenly, it registered in Elliot that Olivia had been shot. He saw her start to tilt. Everything happened in slow motion for him.

He immediately stood up and ran to her. "Olivia, no." He caught her before she fell to the ground. They were both on the ground now. Elliot was holding her in his arms.

"Liv, Liv, hang on," he took out his radio. "This is Detective Stabler. Requesting assistance," he repeated his location and badge number. "Two people in critical condition. Officer down," he was basically screaming now. He threw the radio on the ground. He took his coat off and moved Olivia's so that he could put pressure on the wound.

By now, a puddle of blood had formed around her, and her eyes were opening and closing slowly. As all this was happening it was as if moments that they had spent together flashed before them.

_**"I'd give you a kidney," he said.**_

_**"Not if I gave you mine first," she said before the elevator doors closed.**_

"Liv, come on. You got to stay with me," Elliot's eyes were filling with tears he didn't even know he had. Olivia looked up at him and grabbed his hand.

_**They sat in Elliot's car as he said, "Blink your lights when you get inside."**_

_**Olivia smirked, "You're just gonna sit here all night until I do aren't you, you stubborn son-of-a-bitch?"**_

_**He smiled, "Yes, I am."**_

She tried to talk, "El-Elliot, did you check the boy?" Her words were slow and soft.

Elliot smiled at her. "Yeah, Olivia, I checked the boy. He's fine."

Olivia began to squeeze his hand tighter. She looked around and started to close her eyes more. "El, I- I can't. I can't. I'm sorry," she said softly as she closed her eyes.

_**They sat in a bar undercover. Elliot looked over at Olivia.**_

_**"How are you doing?"**_

_**"I'm not bad, how are you?"**_

_**He looks at her and smiles, "Better now."**_

Elliot began to shake her. He suddenly heard the noise of the sirens in the background.

"Liv," he shook her, "Liv, they're here. Wake up. Olivia, wake up." He kept shaking her. "Olivia, you can't do this! Damnit, don't close your eyes!" He gently shook her face, but she wasn't waking up.

Elliot was beginning to get more hysterical as tears flooded his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I'm so sorry. Oh God. Wake up." He started to get panic-stricken as he yelled her name. "Liv, Olivia! Olivia!"

_**As Olivia was getting ready to leave, she turns to Elliot talking about his children.**_

"_**At least you know what you're passing on... half my genes are drunk and the other half are violent and cruel."**_

"_**And look how great you turned out . . . It's not all about the genes Liv all you can do is love your kids."**_

_**She turned to look at him, "Goodnight."**_

Elliot suddenly felt as someone put their hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw a paramedic standing next to him.

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid you have to move," the paramedic shoved Elliot over as a few more pushed passed him. Elliot let go of Olivia's hand, which had already gone limp.

Elliot stepped back against the wall as he watched a bunch of paramedics run to Olivia, Tom Crin, and the boy. He heard them shout medical words he didn't even understand, but he wasn't listening anyway. He put his back on the wall and slid down.

He was too shocked by what had just happened in the last few minutes. He watched as they put an oxygen mask on Olivia and then put her on a stretcher. Elliot just watched as everything happened. His eyes were blurry. He looked down at his hands and clothes. They were all covered in blood. His coat was on the floor from when he tried to put pressure on her wound. All Elliot could think was, "I'm throwing that away." What had just happened?

Suddenly, he heard someone yelling at him. He looked up and saw the same paramedic, "Sir? Sir? Can you hear me?" Elliot looked up at him, still in a daze.

The paramedic continued, "Sir, are you all right?"

Elliot shook his head and said almost in a whisper, "This isn't my blood." The paramedic looked at Elliot. Elliot had watery eyes and blood all over him. He looked traumatized.

The paramedic bent down next to Elliot, "Sir, I think maybe I should just make sure you don't have any injuries."

Suddenly, Elliot snapped out of it. He stood up quickly and ignored the paramedic as he pushed pass a bunch of people. He ran over to the ambulance where they were putting Olivia in.

"I'm riding with her," Elliot yelled over the noise to a paramedic inside the truck. Without a response, Elliot got into the back next to her. The driver quickly closed the door and soon they were speeding off, sirens and all, to Mercy Hospital.

* * *

Munch, Fin, and Lake were sitting in the squad room, going over the case.

"Look," Munch continued, "it's no question that Crin did it. As far as we're concerned, he could have left the country by now."

Fin looked up from his desk, "We don't know that. If Elliot and Liv don't got him in custody by now, it'll be a first. That's all I'm sayin'."

"What about you?" Munch looked at Lake.

Lake paused, "Well, CSU is looking at the conductor's stick. If Olivia was right, then we'll know for sure he's our guy."

"All I know is that I want a minute with that SOB when he's in interrogation," Fin huffed.

Munch laughed while throwing a paper ball that he made, "I'm sure IAB will be fine with that," he said sarcastically.

Suddenly, Cragen walked out of his office, pale. It took a minute for the other detectives to realize he was there. Munch was the first to notice. He stood up from his desk and looked over. Fin and Lake looked over when Munch got up. They all stood as Cragen just stood staring into space.

"Capt'n," Fin said. "You okay?"

As if in slow motion, Cragen walked over. He stood in front of them and rubbed his hand on his forehead. He then placed his hand to his side.

"Olivia's been shot. She – she's heading to the hospital," he said bluntly.

The others looked at him. Munch spoke first, "How bad is it?"

Cragen didn't answer; he just looked at Munch in the eyes. Shock registered in Munch's face as he took off his sunglasses, and Fin sat down. The squad room fell silent as the four men looked at the floor.

**A/N: Review. Tell me what you think!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi everybody! I am sorry this chapter is a little bit shorter, but I have been sooooo busy. But I wanted to post this tonight. Keep reviewing; I take all of your comments to heart!**

**A/N2: Okay, for those of you who had questions about the flashbacks and what episodes they were from, the first was from Choreographed (8th season), the second was from Stalker (1st season), the third was from Risk (4th season), and the last flashback was from Quarry (6th season).**

**Disclaimer: I asked Dick Wolf, and I pleaded with him, but he wouldn't give up the goods.**

The ambulance stopped at the emergency room entrance. Throughout the ride, Elliot watched Olivia, who was still unconscious. He grabbed her hand as she was taken from the ambulance into the hospital. Doctors and nurses surrounded them as they rushed her to the OR. When they came to the emergency OR doors, the nurse said he couldn't go in.

He looked down at Olivia, who had an oxygen mask on. Elliot squeezed her hand and then let go, watching as she was pushed in the stretcher and disappeared through the doors.

Elliot just stood there. It was all he could do. He was terrified. He needed to do something. Anything. Elliot looked down again at his hands. They were covered in blood. His clothes were covered in blood. He turned and started to walk to the bathroom, which then turned into a run.

He got inside and was relieved when it was empty. Elliot put his hands under the sink and scrubbed. He kept scrubbing, even though it wouldn't come off. Elliot then turned the faucet off and went to the paper towel dispenser. It was empty.

"Damnit," he said. He punched it. Then Elliot turned around to the bathroom stalls and started to kick them in over and over and over again. He punched it and he hit it.

"Son of a bitch." _Whack_

"Damnit." _Bam_ "Damnit!" _Smack _"Damnit, Damnit, Damnit!"

He hit the stall one last time and then stepped back. He turned and leaned on one of the sinks, and then looked up into the mirror. His eyes were red, and a few tears had escaped, streaming down his cheek.

* * *

Cragen, Fin, and Munch had separated into two different squad cars to reach the hospital. Cragen had left Lake back at the precinct to take care of any business. Lake wasn't that surprised, he didn't know Olivia very well and he knew Cragen needed someone to stay there, but he said to call when the others knew anything. 

No words had been exchanged, and as they pulled up to the building, each of them hit the ground with a run.

They entered the emergency room and Cragen headed towards the information desk. He was about to ask the nurse until Fin grabbed his shoulder.

"Look," he said. Fin pointed out into the waiting room area. Cragen took less then a few seconds to realize a passed out Elliot in one of the seats. They all walked over. Munch sat down next to him and shook his shoulder a little. Elliot awoke with a jolt.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down man," Fin said, pushing him back in the chair.

"How long have you guys been here?" Elliot said rubbing his eyes. His clothes were still pretty bloody.

"Just a few minutes," Cragen said. "Elliot, are you okay?" he asked, looking at his bloody shirt.

Elliot looked down at his clothes again and then looked back up. "Yeah, I'm fine. This blood isn't mine. It's Olivia's."

All of them were quiet for a moment as each of them pondered at what had happened.

Fin broke the silence, "Well, have the doctors told you anything yet?"

Elliot sat up, "Uh, no. I think that it might be awhile before they do.

Cragen jumped in, "Elliot, listen, we have it covered from here, why don't you go home, take a shower, and change your clothes."

"I'm not leaving," he stated dryly.

With that last comment, Fin went over to the other side of the waiting room and came back with five magazines in hand. He sat down next to Munch.

"This is gonna' be a long night."

* * *

About an hour later, Cragen, Fin, and Munch had all fallen asleep, except for Elliot. All he could do was replay what happened. Why hadn't he stopped it? What did he do wrong? What would he do if she didn't make it? He didn't know the answers, and until he did, he couldn't sleep. 

Elliot got up and went to the bathroom again. He splashed his face with some water, and looked at himself in the mirror. He did look like hell, didn't he?

After gaining some more composure, he stepped back out of the restroom and proceeded back into the waiting room, expecting to see all of them still asleep.

However, what he saw was a little different than what he expected. All three of them were standing there, talking to a woman, who from their expressions, was yelling at them.

The back of her head looked familiar, but he was too tired to play guessing games. As he walked closer, he heard her yelling. Well, not really yelling, more aggravated than anything else.

"What the hell!" Elliot heard her saying. "I take a small leave of absence for a couple of days, and you guys don't mind telling me that my friend was shot?!"

Cragen talked back, sounding a little intimidated, "Look, Casey, we're in a bit of a crisis and nobody could get a hold of you."

They all stopped their conversation and looked up to see Elliot. Casey Novak turned around and looked at him. The anger on her face soon turned to worry as she saw the blood on his shirt.

"Oh my God, Elliot. What in the world happened?"

"Hey Casey," he replied in a tired voice, "It's not what it looks like, the blood isn't mine."

"Crap," she whined, "Don't tell me it's all Olivia's. Son of a bitch. I swear, if Crin makes it too, I am prosecuting his ass all the way to Canada."

Elliot nodded weakly.

Cragen was tired of this, "Elliot, for the love of God, please change your shirt."

"I'm not leaving," he retorted.

Casey, ignoring the comments between Cragen and Elliot, continued, "Elliot, how long has she been in surgery?"

"A little over three hours."

"Casey," Fin jumped in, "How did you find out about this anyway?"

"Are you kidding me?" she squealed. "How could I not find out? The entire thing was caught on the news. Everyone knows what happened."

"What do you mean 'caught on the news'?" asked Munch.

"What I mean," continued Casey taking a deep sigh "is that the shooting was caught on the security camera in the warehouse. It was on breaking news about an hour ago."

Elliot suddenly shot right up. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, that's how I found out."

Elliot became so pissed off in 0 to 60 seconds. "How the hell did they find out so fast?!"

"Elliot," Casey replied, "this shouldn't have been a surprise to you. This entire case that you and Liv have been dealing with was multimedia. The press was all over it. The story is on almost every news channel."

Cragen looked at her. "Oh my God. Is there anything you can do, Casey? This has to be illegal in some way."

"I already thought of that and phoned in before I came. The security video was given to them by the owner. The truth is that it doesn't matter by now if we pull the video off the air or not. It has already been shown to the public on multiple news stations. If we did sue, it would take months. It's not worth it."

Casey looked at their lost faces and continued, "Look, you guys really don't need to deal with this right now. Just make sure Olivia is okay. Screw the media."

Elliot wasn't listening. He immediately walked over to one of the televisions in the waiting room that was playing CNN. He stood there, and as the clip from the shooting played on national television, the rest of them walked over to join him.

He saw it all replay. Of course there was no audio, so they couldn't hear anything, but they saw everything.

_Tom Crin dragged the boy across the courtyard, when suddenly you see Olivia standing at least fifteen feet away with a gun in her hand, yelling. It all happened so quickly._

_Tom Crin pushed Kevin away, out of the view of the camera. Then he reached into his coat, pulled out his gun, and shot instantly. Right after he did, Olivia pulled the trigger, causing Crin to fall to the ground._

The next part though was the hardest for Elliot. He watched himself enter onscreen to where the action had been, and immediately run to Tom Crin. And as the rest of it unfolded for the others to see, all Elliot could think was, "why didn't I check on her first?"

The worst part was that he could tell the rest of the squad was thinking the same thing. "Why did he run to Tom Crin? Why hadn't he checked on Olivia?"

Out of no where, Elliot felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to meet Cragen's eyes.

"Elliot, it's not your fault."

Elliot didn't know what to think, because it was his fault. He had become so selfish with himself that he had forgotten to cover Olivia's back.

The truth was that at this moment in his life, Olivia was all he had. She was no longer just a friend, she was who he was. She completed him in ways some people never could.

And after all they had been through; after all they had meant to each other, Elliot had let her down. If she didn't make it through this, if _they _didn't make it through this, a part of him would die with her.

And somehow, all of his problems didn't seem as big.

**A/N: Okay, I know that was shorter. Don't hate me. I am going to try to update as soon as possible. And as always, review! (I swear, reading them is like an addiction)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Okay, so I know that it has been about a week since I last updated. I am soooo sorry. I have been packed with homework, and my sister anounced that she and her husband are now adding a new member to their family (yay!) So this is the next chapter. As always review! And then review some more!**

**Disclaimer: If they were mine, I would have probably gone to the Emmy's. Sadly I just watched them instead.**

It had officially been five hours in the waiting room, and even though it may seem odd, everybody was too tired to sleep. It was about 3:00 in the morning, and it was pretty quiet.

"Hey, Elliot," Fin said out of nowhere, "how many vacation days do you have?"

"I don't know, maybe a couple of weeks. Why?"

"You ever gonna use them?"

"I don't know."

"You should," Fin stated. The conversation was completely meaningless, but it did one of two things. First, it kept them busy. Second, they were too tired to even comprehend what the other was saying, so it didn't matter anyway.

Suddenly, the ER room door opened, and out came a very tired and overworked looking doctor. He had blue scrubs on and a clipboard grasped in his hand. He didn't look happy.

It took the group a minute to realize that he was heading over to them. Throughout the night, doctors had come in and out, but they were always for other people.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Keane. Is there an Elliot Stabler over here," he said looking at his clipboard. Elliot bolted out of his seat and walked over.

The doctor looked at him, "You're stated here as Olivia Benson's next of kin."

Elliot was a little shocked to realize he was, but then again, he stupidly remembered the horrible things he had said to her in their fight, of how she didn't have anyone. He felt like he wanted somebody to smack him for that.

"Yeah," Elliot stated, "yeah, I'm her next of kin. What's going on?" By now, everyone else was standing next to him.

"Well, the good news is that she is out of surgery," the man took a deep breath and sighed. He was going to say this quick and simple. "The bullet nicked her aorta, and barely missed any major organs. However, by the time she came here, she had lost a lot of blood."

The doctor took another deep breath and continued. "We gave her a transfusion, but the blood loss deprived her brain of oxygen for a little while." The doctor braced himself for his next sentence. "I'm afraid that she has been put into somewhat of a comatose state."

Elliot stuttered, "Sh-she's in a coma?"

"Now the truth," he continued, "is that right now, she isn't exactly breathing on her own. We incubated her." He looked at their lost faces. "However, the good news is that she is not in an irreversible state. She can still make a full recovery and wake up. The only problem -"

"The _only_ problem?" Elliot said cutting him off in disbelief.

The doctor needed to choose his words carefully here; he didn't want to get on a cop's bad side. "The only problem," he restated, "is that if she doesn't awaken within the next couple of weeks or so, there is a chance that she will go into shock and multiple organ failure."

Dr. Keane clinched as he saw all of the mouth's drop open, but he quickly stated, "If you guys would like to see her, she is ready for visitors."

The doctor didn't know how else to put it. He had worked 37 hours so far, and he was too tired to try to be nice about the situation. After a minute had passed without a response from any of the five people in front of him, he matter-of-factly stated, "She is in room 216 on the third floor."

Casey was the only one who responded this time, even though she seemed out of body when she said it.

"Thank you, Dr. Keane." Relieved that someone had said something, he nodded his head and walked through the doors.

Casey then picked up her purse from the floor and looked at the other men.

"I guess we should head up to see her," Casey said. She didn't have any emotion in her voice. She was simply feeling what everyone else was – denial and shock. She headed for the elevator doors as the rest followed.

However, Elliot literally needed a push from Cragen. He was still looking at the ER doors.

"Elliot," he said, "come on." Cragen took his arm and squeezed it, taking Elliot out of the daydream he was having. They all quietly crammed into the elevator, and as the doors closed, it was as if each one of them was suddenly feeling a part of themselves close with it.

* * *

The third floor was cold, empty, and quiet. Each door they passed by had someone lying in it, or the memory of someone lying in it. With each breath they took, they shared the same thoughts and feelings as those memories. And with each step that they were willing to take, they somehow realized that they were no longer a squad, no longer a unit, they were a family.

They got to room 216, and before anybody entered into the room, they looked through the glass. Fin was the first to walk in, followed by Casey, Munch, Cragen, and Elliot stood in the doorway. Nobody talked. The heart monitors stood around Olivia, as a big and hideous tube was shoved in her mouth. Casey came up and grabbed her hand, as Munch took off his glasses.

Everything felt so odd to them. They wanted to crack a joke. They wanted to laugh at the situation because it wasn't really. It couldn't be real. This woman lying in front of them was tough, and kind, and generous. And she didn't deserve this.

Casey was the first to say something. "I feel like I'm in an asylum, maybe we should bring some plants in here or something."

Cragen walked up next to Casey, "Yeah, plants would look nice." He put his hand on Casey's shoulder because he could tell that tears were springing to her eyes. She turned and looked him at him as he repeated, "Plants would look really nice."

Munch jumped in, "Do you guys know her favorite kind of plant? Or was she a dog person?" He said somewhat sarcastically. Munch wasn't equipped to deal with this type of agony. He knew jokes and sarcasm were definitely not the right place right now, but what else could he say? No one held it against him, though. They knew him well enough.

"I don't know what her favorite flower is," said Casey, slowly, still holding Olivia's hand.

Fin turned towards the door, "Hey Elliot, what's Olivia's favorite flow-" Fin turned to see that nobody was at the door. Elliot wasn't in the room at all, in fact.

Fin faced Cragen, "Where'd Elliot go?"

Cragen sighed, "He's fine," even though he knew it wasn't.

* * *

Elliot was almost jogging down the hallway of the hospital. He took the stairs and ran outside. When he got there, he took huge breaths. He bent over and put his hands on his knees. He couldn't breath. He was hyperventilating.

"Oh, God," he kept saying. "Oh, God. Oh, God."

Elliot couldn't understand it. She was _supposed_ to be okay. Olivia was always okay. She shouldn't be in a coma. She was Olivia. His person. The one he came to. The one he depended on. The one he talked to. Bitched to. Laughed to. Cried to. Smiled to.

And just know, it was like the worst feeling he had ever had. He physically couldn't breath. Elliot slowly breathed through his nose and out through his mouth. Inhaling. Exhaling. Inhaling. Exhaling.

As his heart rate slowed down, he cleared his mind. Inhaling. Exhaling.

Suddenly, his phone rang. He quickly picked it up without checking the ID.

"Stabler," he said with one of his hands still on his knees.

"Elliot? Hey, it's Kathy." She was at her dining room table, in the middle of a cup of Coffee. It was about 4:30 now, but she got up that early anyway.

"Oh, hi."

"Elliot, listen, I just saw what happened. Where are you?"

"I'm," he almost forgot himself, "I'm at the hospital."

"Yeah, of course you are," she sighed in somewhat relief. "I'm just glad you're okay. How's Olivia?"

Kathy felt somewhat akward asking. It was touchy ground. And of course she had seen the horrific video on the news. She hadn't talked to Elliot in days, and these were probably the worst circumstances to be calling him under. She had no idea what to say to him. They weren't like how they were when they first met.

And now, one of his closest friends had gotten shot, and the video of it was replaying on every news station across the country. What can you say to that?

"Oli-" Elliot had a hard time saying her name. "Olivia, isn't doing that well."

"Is she out of surgery?" Kathy asked calmly.

"Yeah. She's in a coma, Kathy."

Kathy was in the middle of sipping her coffee, and spit it all out the moment he said that. No way was she expecting that.

"She's in a coma?"

Elliot cleared his throat, not wanting to discuss it. "Yeah, listen Kath, I've got to go."

"Um, okay," she said biting her lip.

Elliot flipped his phone closed, and rubbed his hand on his temple. He walked over to one of the nearby benches and sat down. Damn, it had been such a long day.

As if on queque, his cell phone rang again.

"Listen, Kathy, I said I couldn't talk right-" Elliot started saying.

"Elliot, it's Lake," he said a little confused.

"Oh, what is it?"

"I just got off the phone. I wanted to tell you that Tom Crin died at 4:02 this morning."

Elliot couldn't help but have a small curved smile form. He felt guilty in a way, but he was in someway relieved.

"I guess Olivia had good aim," continued Lake. "How is she by the way?"

"She's been better."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Listen, Elliot, are you outside?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I tried calling the Captain, but I couldn't get a hold of him. I guessed his phone was off since he was in the hospital. You're the only person I've been able to reach."

"I was just getting some fresh air." Elliot didn't know why he said that. He didn't feel like he needed to justify his actions to Lake.

"So you aren't with the Captain?"

"No, Lake. I'm not," Elliot said with a little annoyance. "Why?"

"Nothing, I just have to go to an appointment at six, but nobody is here to cover for me. Do you think I could get one of the rookies to do it?"

Elliot suddenly thought, "but you are a rookie." He kept that comment to himself. Instead, out of no where, he replied, "I'll cover for you."

"Elliot, I can't ask you to do that. Olivia should have you at the hospital with her. She's you're partner."

"No, it's fine. I'll be there in twenty minutes." He hung up the phone before Lake could reply. Why did he do that? Maybe if he kept busy at work, then he wouldn't have to face this right now. He just needed some space. He couldn't handle this. That room, with her in it. Not right now.

He got into his car. Maybe this never happened. Maybe when he walks into the squad room, everybody will already be there. Munch will be bitching about the government. Fin will be throwing paper balls. Cragen will be yelling at Lake. Casey will walk in with her briefcase. And Olivia will be there, sitting at her desk across from his. She'll look up and smile at him.

Yes, that's what will happen when he walks through the door.

And thus started the road through Elliot's denial.

**A/N: Okay, so review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey everybody! It's been like a week since I updated. I'm so sorry yet again. So pleeeeaaaase update (that's right, I'm begging). God, I'm making myself crack up. Anyways, enjoy this chapter, and I will update as soon as possible! And I will say it again: Review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. Maybe if I click my heels and say it three times, "I want to own SVU, I want to own SVU, I want to own SVU." Nothing. Crap.**

* * *

The squad had been sitting around Olivia's bed for a while. Casey mostly talked. Cragen and Fin said a few things, but Munch didn't say anything.

"Has anybody been able to contact Simon? I mean, he is her brother. Shouldn't he have seen the news by now?" Casey asked.

Fin jumped in, his voice low and flat, "I called him from Olivia's cell about two hours ago. I couldn't get him, so I called back at the squad room. Lake told me that his work stated he had just taken a two week vacation absence with his family."

"I'm not that surprised," added Cragen. "I would probably need a vacation too it I was just accused and framed for rape."

"Who else could we call?" asked Casey.

"Well," Munch stated, "I just left a message for Melinda. If she hasn't heard by now, then it's because she either hasn't turned on the television, or hasn't gone to work yet."

"Oh yeah," Munch added, "I also called Porter."

"Why the hell would you call Porter?" Casey asked.

"Well, by now they have worked a couple of cases together. I figure that they know each other well enough to come visit each other if one gets shot," he ended sarcastically.

Finally, one of the nurses entered the room.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said, "but I'm afraid visiting hours will end in about five minutes."

"Okay," Casey replied. "I guess we should head back," she stated turning her head toward Cragen.

He nodded and looked towards Munch and Fin. Before everyone left the room, they each squeezed Olivia's hand.

"Hey," Munch replied as most of them were about out of the door, "I'll catch up with you guys in a second." They all nodded and left the small room, closing the door behind them.

The room was completely silent, except for the heart monitor. Munch pulled up a chair and sat next to Olivia. He laid his glasses on the counter next to him and rubbed his forehead.

He had no idea what to really say, but he knew that he needed to say something.

"Hey, Liv," he began. "Um, I guess I just wanted to speak to you without everyone. You know, tragedies and crowds don't work well with me."

He looked up at her and sat back in his chair. "Listen, a lot of things have happened in these past weeks. I almost feel that they should be making a Lifetime film about us." He smiled a little bit at himself.

Munch continued, "Things have happened that shouldn't have happened. And everyone is trying to pull through. I know that we haven't talked that much lately. I would blame it on Lake, but I know that he hasn't been here long enough."

He took a deep breath. "You should know, Liv, that you being in this position affects everybody. Not just us, but every kid you've helped. I don't say this often, but a lot of people look up to you because you've saved them. It's what makes you one of the most committed people I know. And it's what makes you one of my closest friends."

Munch had to turn away for a second as his eyes began to glisten over. He blinked them back.

"So that's why you have to wake up Olivia. You have to because everyone needs you to. Because I need you to. Because every rape victim needs you to. Because Elliot needs you to."

With that last note he stood up and grabbed his glasses. Before he opened the door to leave, he turned back to the bed.

"Besides," he said, "how the hell are you going to play yourself on the Lifetime channel, if you're still in a coma?"

Munch opened the door and closed it gently, secretly hoping that Olivia had heard every word he said.

* * *

After a long and quiet ride back to the precinct, the squad finally made it. Cragen drove, never turning his head from the road. Fin sat passenger side, with his head in his hand, looking out the window. And Casey and Munch sat in the back seat, looking out the window too. It was raining. Almost like a sign.

When they got out of the elevators, it was about seven or eight in the morning. They expected to walk into the squad room and see Lake bossing the uniforms around, while people struggled to get their hands on coffee (as long as Munch didn't make it).

What they saw, however, was much different. Elliot was there, bossing people around. In fact, Lake was no where to be found. The four of them stood at the door as they watched the seen.

Elliot stood up with a file in his hand. He ran to one of the uniforms, gave him the file, and told him to redo it. Then he ran to one of their detectives.

"Briscoe," he yelled. The young man stood up. "The Kellin Case has been sitting on your desk for three days. Either get your ass out in the field, or don't come to work tomorrow."

Then Elliot went over and poured himself a cup of coffee, which he then threw out and said was "terrible". He walked to his desk and answered his phone after that. He wrote stuff down and spoke quickly. Then he hung up and dialed another number, all the while stacking more files. He was on fire.

Cragen was speechless. Fin was speechless. Casey was speechless. Munch was speechless. What was wrong with Elliot? Was it denial? Was it normal? Was it some kind of breakdown?

After another five minutes, Elliot finally spotted them. He grabbed a file and headed towards Cragen and the others.

"Here," he handed Cragen the file. "It's the statistics report. We've got five more cases. You're gonna have to hire a temp until Liv gets back. I also rescheduled your appointment with the commissioner."

"You what?!" Cragen said as he stepped forward. Fin put a hand on his shoulder and held him back, shaking his head. Cragen let it go.

"Elliot," Cragen asked, "where's Lake? I put him in charge."

"Lake had to go to an appointment around six. He asked if I could cover for him."

"Elliot," Casey said, "why did you leave before? Are you okay?"

Elliot paused for a moment. Suddenly the phone rang. "Sorry, I have to get that" he said without answering Casey's comment.

The four still stood looking stunned.

Munch had to say something. "Captain, you're bringing in a shrink, right?"

Cragen turned towards him, "I'll pay for it myself if I have to."

* * *

Kathy walked into the hospital later that day. She walked over to one of the desks.

"I'm sorry, but can you direct me to the room where Olivia Benson is staying."

The nurse typed in a few things on the computer and looked up at Kathy. "Yeah, here she is," she pointed to something on the computer. "Room 216."

Kathy got into the elevator. It was so quiet. The doors opened and she walked through the hallway. What was she doing here? Was she here to find Elliot? Was she here to somehow make her piece? She didn't know.

Kathy turned into the room and opened the door. She let out a little gasp. There she was. Olivia. With a tube down her throat. And a heart monitor right next to her. Olivia was so pale and looked so weak. Which was odd, because Olivia had always been some sort of freakishly beautiful, tan, and kick-ass kind of woman. Not like Kathy would say that out loud. Especially about her.

What was most shocking was that nobody was there. The room was completely empty. Kathy thought that Elliot would be sitting right there beside her. But the chair was empty. What the hell happened? Where was everybody?

Kathy walked over and pulled a chair up. She didn't know why. She thought that at this point that she would have left the hospital already. Kathy looked down at the woman, not knowing what to say.

"Um," she started. "Hi, Olivia. It's Kathy, by the way." Her eyes darted around.

She looked back down at Olivia, and saw how alone she must feel. Suddenly, an overwhelming wave of emotion hit her, because feeling lonely is what Kathy has felt for a long time.

"You know," she continued. "A lot of people have asked me about what I want to do with, you know, the baby. The truth is that I never knew myself." Kathy crossed and uncrossed her legs anxiously.

"Because, either way, I lose." She sighed, "If I have Elliot come home, and quit his job or transfer, it might be fine for a while. But his job is his life. It's what makes him Elliot, and he would never be happy if he had to leave." Kathy smiled a little, "He always has to protect people."

She cleared her throat, "And if he stays at his job, then I'm no better off than I was before. I can't be alone again. Not again."

Kathy became really quiet, and all of a sudden, tears started to glisten over her eyes.

Her voice became really pitchy, "You know, I hated you for a long time." She tried wiping away her tears, but she couldn't, so she continued talking.

"I – um – I can't say why exactly, but you've always kind of been some sort of a threat."

She paused as she looked away for a second. Then she looked back down at Olivia's face.

"And I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you that nothing has ever been your fault." She continued to try to wipe the tears away. "And that I am going to keep the baby. But I'm going to let Elliot go."

Suddenly, the falling tears turned into sobs. "So – so that's why you have to wake up. Because people need you to be there for them. Elliot needs you. He can't get through it alone. Okay?"

Kathy sat there crying for a while. She cried because she was lonely. She cried because she was sad. She cried because of her situation. And she cried because she could.

Eventually, Kathy calmed down. Her tear streaked face was red. It was amazing that nobody had ever gotten her to cry like that. She took some deep breaths, grabbed her purse, and stood up.

Before she left, she gave Olivia a tight squeeze on the hand. "Thank you," she said in a whisper. And for the first time, she meant it.

**A/N: Okay, ready, set Review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hi everyone! I know I haven't updated in a few weeks, I just got back from vacation where I had absolutely no internet access. But it feels so good to be writing again. So without further ado, please read and review. (I totally just rhymed). Anyways, Review!!!! It's like candy.**

**Disclaimer: Dick Wolf won't give up the goods. He's so stubborn.**

It had officially been a week since the incident. Nobody really discussed it, anyway.

Everybody tried to see Olivia in the hospital, but their schedules made it hard to deal with. Casey came by at least once everyday. Munch also tried to a couple of times, but Elliot was in his own little world.

Whatever he was going through wasn't showing on the outside. Whenever Olivia's name came up, he acted like he didn't hear it or like she would be back at work any minute now. Everybody wanted to smack some sense into him, but it was hard. They all acted as if nothing was wrong. As if Olivia wasn't in intensive care having a tube breathe for her.

But it wasn't just Elliot. Somehow, the entire momentum of the squad was slowly crashing. Nobody looked each other in the eye anymore; there was no more going for drinks after work. Cragen wasn't giving any leniency; in fact, he was almost at the point that if someone pissed him off, he would recommend suspension.

Sometimes it was hard for the victims as well. The squad was mostly male by now, and a lot of the younger girls were too afraid or timid to speak. They needed a woman around. Cragen had been talking to the commissioner as well. If there was no improvement in Olivia's condition, than a new temporary replacement would be in order.

The only problem was how to tell this to his detectives.

* * *

It had been a long day for Fin; well actually it was only eleven o'clock in the morning. But it felt like an entire day. He had had to talk down Elliot a few times from doing everyone else's paperwork, which he never thought he would do in a lifetime. Munch had gone up to the crib and hadn't come back down, which inevitably left him stuck with Lake for all of his interviews. He also had a headache the size of New York.

The clock was ticking, and he couldn't focus. Then he suddenly had a thought.

"Hey, Lake," he said while putting his jacket on. Lake was pouring coffee and looked up.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to the hospital. You gonna' be okay for awhile?"

Lake had a small amount of sympathy in his eyes, "Yeah, man," he said in his Brooklyn accent. "I'll be fine. You go ahead."

Fin smiled and exited through the doors of the quiet squad room.

* * *

Fin walked down the hallway of the hospital. He really didn't have a good reason to be there. Of course she was a close friend, and of course he would risk his life for her's. But in some small way, he knew why it had taken so long for him to want to come. It was the same reason why Elliot probably wouldn't come.

It was because Olivia was now a constant reminder of everything the squad had lost. They had lost not only a good friend, but also a bond, and a hope that someday they would change the world. But if a good person like Olivia could be in this position, than what the hell was the point? Why would they work so hard to protect the world if the world couldn't protect them? Maybe Olivia knew what she was getting into, but then again, how could anybody expect this?

He finally reached room 216 and opened the door. It was dead silent, with four white walls, just like it was when he first visited. The heart monitor was beeping slowly, and he could hear small wisps coming from the air ventilator. And just like before, there she was.

But something was missing, and Fin couldn't put his finger on it for about a minute. She was alone, that was the problem. Nobody else was in the room with her. Nobody. What the hell?

He understood that they hadn't been able to get a hold of Simon and he understood that Porter was now in an out reach program in California, but what about everybody else. But what got him mostly upset was Elliot.

If everybody else felt so damn bad about this, why weren't they here? He decided to take a couple of breaths and sit down next to her. Now was not the time to get pissed off.

Fin sat there for about fifteen minutes without saying anything. He just kept looking at her. This whole situation was incredibly awkward. Then, through all of the silence, he heard a voice speak. It was his own.

"Hey Liv," he started. "How ya doin'?" The monitors kept beeping, and the room was dead silent. Fin felt like he should talk about something more. She was a close friend.

"Ya know, since the trial, I haven't talked to my son, Ken. I just – I yelled at him over everything a couple of weeks ago. I shouldn't of, I know that. But it's hard with everything goin' on."

The silence kept answering him.

"I know that a little over a year ago, you helped him out. I guess that's why you should know. Besides, I heard that people in comas can hear things. So, I hope you hear this."

Fin looked at her long and hard. Her hair was spread across the pillow, and the breathing tube was held in by a piece of tape. This wasn't right. She shouldn't be here.

A tear almost caught him off guard but he quickly wiped it away. He didn't like people seeing him cry, even if there was nobody in the room. Fin squeezed her hand and continued.

"I'm sorry nobody's here. You know us; we try the best we can. But, I don't think that's an excuse. And I'm sorry about Elliot. He isn't himself lately, and I'm pretty sure that's because of you. He's just not the type to admit it."

Fin Tutuola continued to talk. It wasn't anything special, but he needed to let things out. About the trial, his family, his work, the cases that effected him. He sat in there for about two hours, and when he got up to leave, this feeling of relief hit him. He had let everything out, and even though it was to a person that couldn't respond, it was the best talk he had ever had.

But he also felt sad that he would now be leaving her in an empty room with nobody to be there. In fact, it made him really mad.

"Night Liv," he said before exiting the room.

* * *

Fin was almost through the squad doors, and as he got closer, he got angrier. Why the hell is nobody with her? Why not her partner? Of all people, why not her partner?!

His fists started to clench, and as he walked into the silent, sad squad room, he couldn't stop himself.

Fin walked right past Munch, who looked at him puzzled. Fin went right up to Elliot, and before anybody could say anything, the inevitable happened.

Fin cocked back his fist and punched Elliot in the face as hard as he could.

"You son of a bitch!" Fin yelled as Elliot bent down to hold his nose. By now, Munch and Lake were holding Fin back with all they're might as Fin tried to swing another punch.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Elliot said standing up and pulling himself together. There was a small amount of blood coming from his nose, but it wasn't that bad. Shock was what hit Elliot more than anything.

"You want to know what's wrong with me?!" he yelled. Fin pushed Lake and Munch off of him, and stood in front of Elliot with his finger pointed accusingly at him.

"I'll tell you what's wrong with me. I just sat in a small hospital room for the past two hours, talking to someone who can't talk back. And then it hit me, why the hell isn't anybody else with her? Why not her partner?"

Elliot looked more hurt by the statement than by the punch, but fin wasn't finished.

"Oh, come on Stabler! Out of everyone in the squad room, you are basically the closest thing that she has ever had, and you haven't visited her once. And I know that we haven't said anything because you are going through some kind of breakdown, but this is enough. Everybody else is just too chicken to say anything."

"Fin -" Munch tried to say calmingly.

"No," Fin continued, "I'm tired of treating him like some cop baby. He should know better. Olivia did nothing to be in that hospital and Elliot won't even come and see her 'cause he's so sad about his own pathetic life."

Fin turned back to Elliot, "Oh, what's the matter Elliot. Are you sad because you feel like all these things keep happening to you? Well here's some information, it takes _two_ people to get your wife pregnant. Also, I thought it was _you_ that tried to cover your daughter's DUI."

Fin actually began to get emotional, and as Elliot looked at him dumbfounded, he couldn't help but notice Fin's eyes glisten over with tears.

"So," Fin finally stated, "Let me just say that I'm glad she isn't awake right now, because if she was, I don't know how I would tell her that she has such a crappy friend."

With that last statement, Fin walked back out of the squad room doors. Everybody was quiet. Elliot stood grounded in the floor, not being able to move. He looked up finally, to see the angry faces of Munch, Cragen, and Casey, who had seen the entire ordeal.

Suddenly, it hit Elliot that the angry faces weren't directed at Fin. Instead, they were directed at him.

The whole squad room looked at Elliot with disgust. In a way, they had all agreed with everything Fin had said.

"Elliot," Cragen said breaking the silence, "in my office, now."

Elliot began to move slowly, and as he did, things turned back to normal.

**A/N: So, what did ya think? I will try to update a soon as possible! Review!**


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